Roasting Nuts – How To Guide

Roasting Nuts – How To Guide

February 7, 2019/3963

Whilst we sell roasted almonds and cashews, in our opinion nothing can beat a freshly roasted nut for its rich flavour, snap and aroma! Roasting nuts deepens their flavour and releases more of that delicious nuttiness we know and love. For some nuts, such as blanched almonds they also become more visually appealing for adding to dishes.

Here we provide a guide on how to roast our nuts. We recommend roasting nuts on a tray in the oven as the indirect heat will give you a more even result. If you use a pan on the stove top, it becomes a lot more difficult to achieve that golden brown, toasty nut. Whilst a pan might shorten your cooking time, you’re more likely to get black and charred spots which aren’t pleasant to eat.

What you’ll need

Your choice of nut – any amount!

A baking tray or cake tin

A big plate or extra baking tray to tip the roasted nuts onto to cool

Method

Preheat your oven to 175º and spread your nuts on a tray. Be sure to not overload your tray as you will struggle to get an even browning.

Once your oven has reached temperature, place the tray in the centre of the oven to begin roasting the nuts.

As ovens have hot spots (often the back of the oven) use a spatula to move the nuts around the tray to ensure an even roasting. We’d recommend doing this every 2 to 3 minutes during the roasting period to roast them evenly. For specific roasting times for each different nut scroll down to find our guide.

For lighter nuts like our pecans, pistachios, cashew nuts and walnuts roasting will take 7 – 9 minutes. For denser nuts like almonds, hazelnuts and macadamias this can take 9 – 11 minutes. That being said, the best way to know they are done is to use your nose! You can smell when nuts are just done and need to be removed from the oven.

Remove the nuts from the oven and tip the nuts onto a plate or baking tray to allow them to cool. If you keep them on the tray they can continue to roast and your hard work at roasting them could be lost! (or alternatively, take them out the oven just before they’re done)

What To Use Them For

Snack on them or try adding them to salads, roasted vegetables, porridge, granola or stir fries. Sprinkle on some of our herbs or spices. Alternatively, place in your blender and make your own nut butter. Even though we sell nut butters nothing beats a freshly made warm nut butter scooped onto bread! We also like to try our making our own fresh mixed nut butters by roasting and blending our nut mixes.

Storage Notes

Whilst raw nuts can be stored in airtight containers for long periods of time, roasted nuts are at their best when eaten quickly. Store in an airtight container and eat within 7-14 days, the rich flavour and crispness will decrease as time goes on. Try roasting nuts as you need them for the best results!

ROASTING NUT GUIDE

Whole Almonds

Roast for (+/-) 11 minutes – toss every 3 minutes

Whole Almonds will go slightly browner in colour when done

Blanched Almonds

Roast for (+/-) 9 minutes – toss every 3 minutes

Blanched Almonds will go a beautiful golden brown when done

Pecan Nuts
Roast for (+/-) 8 minutes – toss every 2 minutes

Pecan nuts will go slightly browner in colour when done

Macadamias

Roast for (+/-) 1o minutes – toss every 3 minutes

Macadamias will go a beautiful golden brown when done

Walnuts

Roast for (+/-) 8 minutes – toss every 2 minutes

Walnuts will go slightly browner in colour when done

Pine nuts

Roast for (+/-) 6 minutes – toss every 1-2 min

Pine Nuts will go a beautiful golden brown when done

When roasting pine nuts, pay extra close attention to them. They will roast faster because of their size. Check them every 1 to 2 minutes or even pull up a chair close to the oven and watch them! As soon as they begin to change colour they are done.

Hazelnuts

Roast for (+/-) 9 minutes – toss every 3 minutes

Hazelnuts will go a beautiful golden brown when done

Whilst the hazelnuts we used are roasted, we wanted to roast them more for deeper flavour and crispness.

Cashew Nut PIECES

Roast for (+/-) 8 minutes – toss every 2 minutes

When roasting any nut pieces – you need to pay extra attention as the varied size means the smaller pieces could burn and it’s tricky to get an even roast. If your recipe calls for chopped nuts, rather roast the nuts and chop them up after they’ve roasted (and cooled – you don’t want to burn your fingers!) As you can see below, it can be done but it means you’ll need to be more vigilant.

When roasting whole Cashew Nuts roasting time will increase to (+/-) 9 minutes

Roasting Nut Mixes

If you’d like to roast a mix of nuts together – try using out Organic Glas Maol Nut Mix or our Carn Eige Nut Mix. Each mix has a mix of nuts that are likely to roast for a similar time so you can ensure a more even roast. Glas Maol mix has 3 denser nuts – macadamias, almonds and hazelnuts. Carn Eige Mix has 3 lighter nuts – Cashews, Pecans and Walnuts. These also make the most delicious roasted mixed nut butters full of nut goodness!